Michael Rain

Michael Rain communicates ideas through written, visual and audio stories. As an artist, curator, media entrepreneur, and strategic communications professional, he leverages storytelling and technology to expand the world’s perception of diverse communities.

He founded ENODI, which highlights the lives, cultural innovations, and entrepreneurial work of people with immigrant backgrounds. The organization is particularly interested in the stories of people of African, Caribbean, and Latin descent who identify as Black. Through ENODI, Michael conducted a research initiative that produced tech policy recommendations that were adopted by Meta to reduce misinformation and disinformation in WhatsApp groups.

He is a practitioner-in-residence at Harvard University, jointly at the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics and the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research.

Michael is a TED speaker whose TED Talk has surpassed 1 million views and has been translated into 28 languages. Over 30 universities, firms, public institutions, and faith-based groups have assigned the talk as required and recommended viewing for their students, patrons, and constituents in addressing equity, social justice, racial healing, inclusion, and immigration issues. Recommenders include PricewaterhouseCoopers for their Inclusive Mindset Training, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, The Ohio State University College of Public Health, The University of Washington School of Medicine, and the League of Women’s Voters Wake County.

He has delivered keynotes, moderated panels, and conducted workshops at policy, tech, business, and education institutions, including the U.S. Department of State, Google, SAP, Santander, Morgan Stanley, Harvard Business School, the Edwin Gould Foundation, Wharton, and Columbia Law School.

NBC News, The Wall Street Journal, Tech Policy Press, the Harvard Nieman, and Upscale Magazine have featured his writing, visual art, and digital work.

Michael has been a trusted communications consultant to some of the world’s largest and best-known brands, including Verizon, WarnerMedia, Toyota, iHeartMedia, and UnitedHealth Group, for global media campaigns and projects for a range of purposes including thought leadership, reputation management, and diversity & inclusion.

As a third-generation entrepreneur, he co-founded a media and technology startup that published cool stories about the global Pan-African community through mobile, web, and email products built in-house. The company was a selected member of Google’s Launchpad, Facebook’s FbStart, and Microsoft’s BizSpark accelerator programs for tech startups.

Michael was selected as a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University, an Aspen Institute Tech Policy Fellow, and a CUNY Tow-Knight Fellow in Entrepreneurial Journalism. He was twice named for the TED Residency, a sibling program to the TED Fellows.

He is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School, where he also serves as faculty. He earned a B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from Columbia University. He’s a Ghanaian-American, lifelong New Yorker, and Brooklyn native.